


Plastered in Baby Blue

by sailing_won



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: art student!renjun, highschool!au, swimmer!hyuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-12 16:31:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15999062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sailing_won/pseuds/sailing_won
Summary: When Renjun is forced to make a poster for the upcoming swim meet as a school assignment, he doesn't quite know who to make it for. Jeno and Jaemin, on the other hand, know exactly who he should make it for. Renjun begs to switch names, and Jeno and Jaemin refuse. It all stays anonymous anyways.





	Plastered in Baby Blue

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to write some renhyuck because they're the rare pair I love sO much (along with markmin) so that's how this came to fruition- along with a little bit of hope that swimmer!hyuck can motivate me to get back into the water and find my own determination again :')

It wasn't often that Renjun ever felt regretful for signing up for the advanced art classes with Jaemin. He genuinely enjoys all facets of art--especially photography and quick sketching. In that class, Renjun and Jaemin met Jeno, turning their duo into a trio. It was Renjun's opinion, but he thought that this was much better. Now he had two sets of ears that could help him out, instead of just one.

Renjun doesn't regret taking advanced art classes often.

This is one time he does.

Spotting Jeno, Renjun jogs lightly to catch up to him upon entering the art studio. He's unaware of what he's walking into; thinking back on it, he sometimes wishes he had caught the flu from Yukhei. The familiar sight of the easels littered around the room fills his line of vision, and a pleasant sigh escapes his lips. Walking together, they set their bags down by the seats that were placed on either side of Jaemin, greeting him with a slap on the back and bright smiles plastered on their faces. Jaemin scoffs and shouts in amusement as they walk towards the teacher to get their new assignment.

Upon hearing the assignment, the smile drops from Renjun's face, and Jeno has to physically shut his mouth closed.

Mrs. Park returns his look with a quizzical expression, confusion evident on her face as Renjun panics. He quickly drags his hand through his hair and shakes his head, biting the inside of his cheek. Jeno smiles apologetically at Mrs. Park and drags a dazed Renjun back to their table, as Jaemin stares with his interest piqued.

As soon as Renjun is seated, his head slams onto the table. Really hard.

"Holy shit Junnie, are you ok?"

Renjun weakly shoots a thumbs up at one of them-he's not quite sure which one of them it is-as Jaemin slides his hand under his forehead. Groaning, Renjun looks up and sees Jeno chuckling with a twinkle in his eye. Narrowing his gaze at the lanky boy, Renjun hisses out a harsh remark that warrants another round of giggles.

Through his giggles, Jeno asks a question that makes Renjun stare at him with wide eyes.

"What's so bad about this assignment? We just have to create some posters for the swim team's upcoming championship meet. The amount of people on the team roughly equals the number of students in this class, so it's one to one. It's honestly.. not that bad."

Through his incredulous expression, Renjun sputters out a lame excuse.

"B-but it doesn't make sense that only the art students have to do it! What are the chorus and band classes preparing?"

"They prepare the cheers, Junnie. We're here for the visual aspect of cheering. Duh. Everyone has assignments that pertain to this swim meet- it  _is_ the most important competition of the year."

Jaemin looks at him and snickers, pointing at the list of names that were placed at the front of the classroom.

"You better hurry Junnie, there are only 2 names left- only you and Jeno haven't signed-"

Jeno knocks over his chair in his escapade to the list at the front of the room without letting Jaemin finish his sentence, while Renjun futilely chases after him. Reaching the list first, Jeno quickly jots his name next to Wong Yukhei, thus leaving the only open spot next to Donghyuck's name. Renjun doesn't even have to reach the list to know what name was left. So instead of putting his name next to Donghyuck's, he clings to Jeno and begs to switch with him. But Jeno's already walking back to the table to sketch out his first design, and all Renjun is left with is a nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach and a pencil in his hand. He shuffles back to the paper and quickly signs his name next to Donghyuck's. The redness at the tips of his ears almost evades everyone's eyes.

Almost.

Jeno and Jaemin hold back their laughs as they see Renjun's ears, and Mrs. Park can't help the smile that stretches across her lips when she sees the blush that slowly travels across Renjun's face.

☆

"I don't think it'll be that bad, hyung. After all," Chenle says, smiling with bits of food going everywhere, "isn't it anonymous? He won't know it's you who made it, and you might even intrigue him enough to come to seek you out."

Renjun furiously rubs his hands all over his face, leaving his hair a little disheveled and Chenle a little concerned with his lack of a reply. He sighs as Chenle brings his hands up and puts Renjun's hair back in place. He felt a little hopeless at the moment- there wasn't an ounce of creativity in his body. No, that was a lie. He had so many ideas that were welling up in his body that he just couldn't contain it. The thing he really lacked was confidence in himself- sure, he's won countless artist awards that told him how good he was, but what if what he did didn't live up to any expectations? He already didn't like being the center of attention (even if his work constantly was,) and he knew the school would notice if there wasn't an art piece that was so obviously... Renjun.

In their school, there was an obvious prodigy (or set of prodigies, in some departments) that dominated the field. Overall, the school had an insane amount of talented kids, but there were the ones who led the pack. In the arts, it was Johnny and Ten, famously known for their photography accounts that garnered lots of attention around the world. And while Renjun wasn't majoring in photography like the two of them, he was one of the department's up and coming big talents that would burst into the art world. He's been told that his art is something that inspires others; all he sees his art as is is... art. Well, not all the time. He knows what he sees in his art, it just can't be explained in any other words to him besides art.

This? This was a class project, but it branched out to be so much more than just a project. This was something that was going to be on display to represent his school's championship swim team- he already knew how high these expectations rose. His own tension wasn't making this any better.

He let his head thud on the table for the second time today, suppressing the groan that was welling up in his throat. With Chenle's boisterous laughing filling his ears, Renjun lifts his head and begins to threaten Chenle, only to have his voice drowned out by a series of crashing plates and panicked shouting. Renjun whips his head around to see why people were so clumsy and why they were so loud about it, but all he saw was the navy blue of someone else's uniform. He backs up a little and still sees a shadow looming over him, and looks up to see the bright red lunch plate held dangerously close to his face, on the brink of falling. In a rush, he pushes his hands up to get the plate away from him, and in the whole accident, pushes it back onto the person that was standing in front of him.

Shit. Shit. Shit shit shit shi-

Renjun still refuses to look at the person he pushed the food onto, embarrassed and confused. All he hears instead of yelling is a tired sigh and an even more tired chuckle. When Renjun begins to apologize, there's a hand on his shoulder and at this point, he has no other choice but to look up. At first, he sees the whole mess that happened prior to his own little... accident, and it's the swim team that's laid out on the floor, food everywhere and laughs filling their chests. Then he sees the person standing directly in front of him, and wilts. This isn't the first (and definitely not the last) time Renjun gets his breath taken away because he's standing so close and his hand. It's on Renjun's shoulder! And Renjun doesn't know what to do besides sputter out what sounds like a half-hearted apology and an offer to get him the spare shirt he keeps in his locker, because the smile that comes next makes Renjun speechless. He really almost said, "Are you sorry?" In an attempt to apologize, mistakenly combining "Are you ok?" and "I'm sorry!"

It was a good thing his mouth stayed closed.

"Yeah, I think I could really use that shirt, considering," Donghyuck waves at the milk that's plastered on his shirt, "this is what I'm wearing as of right now. I know I'm gonna go to practice later but I really would not like to smell like milk all day. It might get those lactose intolerant kids in my classes."

_That's... that's not how lactose intolerance works..._

He didn't have the heart to say it out loud, though.

Stumbling out of his chair, Renjun heads towards the doors with nothing more than a glace back at Donghyuck and hears Chenle exclaim that Donghyuck should go follow him because, well, the spare shirt of course.

Donghyuck quickly catches up to Renjun and they stroll down the hallway together, with Donghyuck whistling and Renjun fiddling with his hands. When they both reached Renjun's locker, Renjun just stares for a little bit. His head is running haywire and all Donghyuck is doing is standing a little  _too_ close.

"Do you need me to open your locker for you?"

Jumping away from the voice that whispered in his ear, Renjun clutches his shirt. Donghyuck's head is tilted, and a teasing smirk stretches across his lips. He playfully sticks his tongue out, and all Renjun can do is roll his eyes and stick his tongue out as well. Cautiously stepping closer, Renjun sets his hand on the lock and begins to put the combination in. But, the fact is, he misses the last number a total of four times. And at that point, the cursing that happens in his mind comes out under his breath; the last time he misses the number, a heated string of curses run off of his tongue.

Donghyuck is there in a second, touching his hand softly. He nudges Renjun softly to the side and puts in the first two numbers of his combination. He looks at Renjun who stands to his left, and Renjun makes eye contact, breathily saying "19". Donghyuck turns to the last number, and his locker pops open, a piece of paper falling out and landing on the floor. Renjun goes to pick it up at the same time Donghyuck does, and they bump their heads together. Renjun stumbles back a little, almost falling, and Donghyuck's hand is there in a second, grabbing his arm. They both stand up, Renjun rubbing the point of impact and Donghyuck holding out the piece of paper for Renjun to take.

Renjun takes the paper and steps in front of Donghyuck, shoving it back into the folder that rested in his locker. Besides his extra set of clothes and his lunch, that folder was the only thing that existed in his locker. He quickly took out the shirt and cringed. It was his art shirt, meaning there were splatters of paint everywhere. He turned around and was met with Donghyuck standing a little too close. Again.

Renjun lightly shoves Donghyuck back and fidgets with the shirt in his hand. He boldly meets Donghyuck's eyes and lifts the shirt a little, waving it around.

"The shirt is the one I use in art, so I can give you the shirt I'm wearing now and I can wear this instead? I don't mind."

Donghyuck lightly tugs the shirt from Renjun's grip and smiles a small smile that makes Renjun's heart just  _stop_.

"It's ok. I'll just be able to brag that the art prodigy of our grade lent me the shirt he wears when he makes the art our school is so proud of. Thank you, I'll return it when I can!"

Turning around, Donghyuck half skips- half jogs away, a hum slipping through his lips. Renjun is struck- both with Donghyuck's beauty and sudden inspiration. He knows exactly what he's going to do. A smile breaks out on his face-the first one in a few days-and he lays a hand on his heart. It's beating a little bit faster than usual.


End file.
